A two-year project to restore and repair the crumbling stonework of Corfe Castle has revealed that it was once one of the most important castles in England.
A number of elaborate Norman features have been discovered which suggest that when it was first built, Corfe would have been equal in status to the White Tower, the principal part of the Tower of London. As a result of the findings, National Trust experts now believe it was one of the six most important castles in England.
Norman carvings
Discoveries include an ‘appearance’ doorway. This would have been designed for Henry I, who built the Keep in the early 12th century to address the local people. The conservators have also found remnants of elaborate carvings in the stonework at the level of the Great Hall, indicating that the castle was more highly decorated than was previously thought.
© National Trust
One of the most curious is the shape of a bird on the capitol (a door-framing stone pillar) of the door to the King's Chamber from the Great Hall. Experts have identified it as a pelican, a religious symbol found only in chapels and royal quarters of the Norman period.
Repairs
A programme of repair work was begun in 2006 after National Trust experts found that the stresses and strains of winter weather had degraded the exposed stonework. Large chunks of the lower walls of the castle were loose or crumbling and in urgent need of repair and this could only be done using specialist stone conservation techniques.
The work included rebedding stone and repointing walls with traditional lime mortars, pinning back loose sections of stonework. Valuable plasterwork in the North Tower urgently needs work – and the castle is appealing for donations to help them raise the £10,000 cost.
© National Trust
There are signs that medieval builders were just as likely to take short cuts as some of the modern kind. At the top of the East Wall, the renovators found traces of wooden scaffolding which had been mixed into the 900-year-old mortar to bulk it up.
'The masons probably got to the end of the day, couldn’t be bothered to haul up yet another bucket of mortar and threw in a rotting hurdle. It’s a timeless bit of bodging that reminds us that this Castle might have been grand, but it was built by ordinary people.'
Pam White, Corfe Castle’s Community Learning Officer.
Home improvements
On the south wall of the Keep, a piece of pottery has been found in the lime mortar behind one of the holes that originally held the Norman scaffolding. It has been dated to around 1600, indicating that this is when the holes were last used to enable Elizabethan or Jacobean builders to make repairs or improvements.
Further evidence that ‘home improvements’ were carried out around this time has been given by an analysis of the limestone used for a window put in around this time - it has been identified by local quarrymen as Purbeck-Portland Cliffstone, a material not used before 1600.
© National Trust
Visitors to Corfe Castle this year will be able to see the results of the conservation work. After two years of closure, they will be able once again to explore the Keep and take in its timeless views over the Purbeck Ridge. A small exhibition at Castle View Visitor Centre and interpretation panels around the Castle provide an insight into the skill of the conservators and the discoveries they have made.
- You can join an evening tour of the castle any Tuesday from July 1 until the end of October – No fee, but donations towards staffing and on-going conservation work gratefully received.
- For more information contact Pam White on 01929 480609.
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